The County Donegal reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

County Donegal

County Donegal
Area:	4,841 km²
Capital:	Lifford
Code:	DL
Population:	137,575 (2002)
Province:	Ulster

This article is about County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. See also Donegal, Pennsylvania.

Donegal (Irish: Dún na nGall) is a county in the northwest of Ireland. It is one of three counties in Ulster which are not part of Northern Ireland. The name comes from the Irish, meaning the fort of the foreigners. When first created, it was sometimes referred to as County Tyrconnel (Irish: Tír Chonaill), after the Tyrconnel earldom it succeeded.

• County town: Lifford
• Largest town: Letterkenny (was once the fastest growing town in Western Europe)
• Highest point: Errigal, 752 metres (2,467 feet)

Geographically the county consists chiefly of low mountains, with a deeply indented coastline forming natural loughs. The climate is temperate and dominated by the Gulf Stream, with cool damp summers and mild wet winters.

Like other areas of Western Ireland, Donegal has a distinctive fiddle tradition.

The variant of the Irish language spoken in Donegal is distinctive, and shares traits with Scottish Gaelic. Scots is also spoken in east Donegal.

Counties of Ireland

Republic of Ireland: Carlow | Cavan | Clare | Cork | Donegal | Dublin | Galway | Kerry | Kildare | Kilkenny | Laois | Leitrim | Limerick | Longford | Louth | Mayo | Meath | Monaghan | Offaly | Roscommon | Sligo | Tipperary (North, South) | Waterford | Westmeath | Wexford | Wicklow

Northern Ireland: Antrim | Armagh | Derry/Londonderry | Down | Fermanagh | Tyrone

Provinces of Ireland: Connacht | Leinster | Munster | Ulster

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